Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Cairo on January 11, 2024. © Handout Egyptian presidential office via AFP
Summary
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Egypt on Thursday for more talks aimed at containing Israel’s war against Hamas.
- The International Court of Justice in The Hague opened hearings in a case brought by South Africa claiming Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza violates the 1948 Genocide Convention.
- Israeli military operations in Gaza focused on the southern city of Khan Younis and urban refugee camps in the territory’s centre.
- Gaza’s entire 2.3 million population is in a food crisis, with 576,000 people at catastrophic or starvation levels.
- Israeli officials say 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel, among them 695 Israeli civilians including 36 children. At least 23,469 people have been killed and 59,604 wounded in Israel’s ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
- South Africa accused Israel of “genocidal intent” on the first day of hearings at the World Court in its case against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. “Israel has a genocidal intent against the Palestinians in Gaza… that is evident from the way in which this military attack is being conducted. South Africa asked the International Court of Justice” to order Israel to stop its war in Gaza .
- US special envoy Amos Hochstein said he was hopeful diplomacy could calm tensions on the disputed border between Lebanon and Israel, where the Israeli military and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for three months He told reporters after meeting Lebanese officials in Beirut on Thursday.
- Iran‘s navy seized an oil tanker on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman that once was at the heart of a major crisis between Tehran and Washington, officials said, in a seizure that further escalates tensions in the Mideast waterways.
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